Global Communities has been working in Yemen since 2004 helping to empower young people, improve the educational system, as well as build the capacity of media and civil society to address and engage the public around social issues related to the rights of women and children.

Creating Employment Opportunities for Youth

Through the MENA Youth Empowerment Strategy (MENA-YES), Global Communities, in partnership with the Caterpillar Foundation, has launched a three-year, $4.4 million program to target youth aged 15 to 29 in Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen to prepare them for the labor market and job placement. Special emphasis will be given to disadvantaged youth, low- to medium-level skilled individuals, women, peri-urban and rural youth, and individuals working in hazardous environments. The program offers technical, demand-driven training, assistance with internship and apprenticeship placement, as well as, support for entrepreneurship and self employment activities and assistance accessing credit. Learn more, by reading the MENA-YES factsheet.

Emergency Assistance to Support Yemeni Communities (EASE)

With funding from USAID/OFDA, Global Communities is providing emergency assistance to vulnerable conflict-affected populations to reduce increasing rates of malnutrition. This is being accomplished by focusing on poor hygiene practices, limited access to potable water and a reduction of purchasing power cause by increasing costs of food. Global Communities is working with local communities to disseminate key hygiene messages in conjunction with increasing access to improved water sources and the distribution of relief items. The program also supports economic recovery activities which seek to immediately increase purchasing power of vulnerable households for displaced populations as well as host communities.

Improving Household Food Security

With funding from USAID's Office of Food for Peace, Global Communities is employing an integrated strategy to promote food security among vulnerable households. Yemen Food for Asset Development (YFAD) relies on an integrated strategy involving the use of food aid to vulnerable households, labor-based methods to re-engage actors in their own recovery, and participatory decision-making approaches focused on women, in order to develop productive assets that are owned, managed and maintained by target households and the community. Asset building activities include: household and institutional rainwater harvesting, agriculture infrastructure rehabilitation and kitchen gardens. These activities are integrated with behavior change communication training on hygiene and nutrition as well. YFAD targets more than 20,000 food insecure households across eight districts in the three governorates of Raymah, Taiz and Ibb.

RECENT PROGRAMS

Improving Learning Environments

The Community Livelihoods Program (CLP), funded by USAID, aimed to improve the quality of basic education, boost academic performance and increase the retention of students, especially girls. To accomplish this, Global Communities provided teaching aids kits (TAKs) to more than 500 schools, as well as training and follow-up support to teachers on how to use the resources in the kits. Global Communities also helped to set up school libraries and resource rooms and assisted with small-scale infrastructure improvements (such as latrines) to improve the learning environment.

Preventing Child Labor

In the Middle East and North Africa, many children from low-income families suffer from inadequate access to flexible, low-cost and appropriate education, putting them at risk of entering into exploitative or illegal labor practices. Global Communities worked to counter this through the ACCESS-MENA program from 2004-2008 and the Alternatives to Combat Child Labor Through Education and Sustainable Services (ACCESS-Plus) program from 2008-2011. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, the goal of these programs was to reduce the number of children engaged in exploitative child labor. Through ACCESS-Plus, Global Communities partnered with key players in local government to implement awareness raising campaigns and hold workshops for the public on the importance of education, as well as increase child enrollment in educational programs. By partnering with parents, local organizations and municipalities, the program addressed both the direct and indirect causes that expose children to exploitative labor.

Strengthening Media and Civil Society in Yemen

Global Communities implemented theEngaging Media and Civil Rights Activists in Rights-based issues in Yemen (EMCAR)program. Funded by the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, EMCAR increased the capacity of Yemeni media and civil society organizations to identify, address, and engage the public around social issues related to the rights of women and children with the goal of raising public awareness on these issues to empower citizenry and improve the status of women and children throughout the country.